Hi.

Welcome to The Glasgow Food Blog. I love Glasgow, and I love food. It's a match made in heaven. 

The Handmade Cheesecake Company - and competition

The Handmade Cheesecake Company - and competition

The Handmade Cheesecake Company - van arrives!
The Handmade Cheesecake Company - van arrives!

Cheesecakes are always pretty high up on our list of desserts when we are eating out.  Done well, they can be a great way to finish off a meal, and the chances of you feeling fit to burst are lower than if you get stuck into a big bit of chocolate cake.  In spite of this, we very rarely make them in the house, and never really bother with any of the supermarket pre-made options.  While they are great fun to make, we always struggle to eat all of a standard size cake in time, and either throw some of it out or cave in and eat it all in one guilt laden go.

We were therefore absolutely delighted to accept a sample of 4 mini individual cheesecakes from the Handmade Cheesecake Company, who are based in Ayr, and provide a wide array of cakes and desserts for cafes, restaurants, and for events.  Included in the range are Wee Yins, small cheesecakes around 4 inches in diameter which can be purchased in boxes of 9.  We were given 4 different flavours to sample:  Butterscotch Pavlova, Limoncello, Strawberry Shortcake, and Caramel Shortcake.

The Handmade Cheesecake Company
The Handmade Cheesecake Company

Of the toppings, strawberry was the real standout, which is unexpected coming from someone who normally doesn't like strawberry desserts.  Sometimes strawberry flavours can feel really false and artificial to me, but this tasted like real fruit recently picked, and didn't overpower everything.  The Limoncello was also good, subtly flavoured and again avoiding the artificial flavouring that you sometimes get with shop bought cheesecakes.  Both the other cakes were good too, although there did seem to be something overly sweet in the caramel shortcake topping that overpowered.  The base cheesecakes themselves were well made, and let the toppings shine without taking over the flavours.  Briony would have preferred a little bit less biscuit base, but I wasn't bothered by that.  Texture and consistency was good, not feeling too heavy, but still having some substance to it.  Size-wise, they were perfect.  We had half of 2 cheesecakes each for 2 days, and this gave us enough to feel like we had been naughty and had a fair bit, but not feel like we were going to explode.

If you have a big event coming up, a Handmade Cheesecake Company dessert would be a great time saver, as well as a delicious dessert!

The Handmade Cheesecake Company
The Handmade Cheesecake Company

The Handmade Cheesecake Company have generously given me a £25 voucher to give to one lucky reader! All you have to do is comment on this post with what flavour you'd like to try! The competition will run until Sunday 4 November 2012. You can only enter once. I will do a post on Monday 5 November announcing the winner - you will need to get in touch with me with your details so I can give you the voucher. If I don't hear from you by Monday 12 November I'll re-draw the prize. While I'm not restricting entry ... be logical ... can you get the cheesecakes delivered if you live in Australia? That's not really practical now, is it?!

Good luck!

Guest post for Eat Balanced: Pumpkin Salad

Guest post for Eat Balanced: Pumpkin Salad

Spaghetti squash - two ways

Spaghetti squash - two ways